UPCOMING EVENTS

Fresh from going public once again, Dell and its Alienware gaming division took the wraps off its line-up of laptops and other products at CES 2019.

The new features are small, but some of the touches are nice, showing that Dell is paying attention to design for real use. You can, for instance, tuck away an Active Pen on the XPS 13 by sliding it into a hole in the hinge — that way, you won’t lose it. It also has some useful updates to its Dell Mobile Connect and Dell Cinema applications that should benefit all laptop users. The laptops also have the latest processors and graphics from Intel and Nvidia.

“CES is the first show of the year, and with January often marked by ambitious resolutions, Dell comes to CES with new products that empower people to fulfill their highest potential,” said Sam Burd, president of client solutions group at Dell, in a statement.“We’re driving innovation and delivering devices and experiences to make work and play more fluid and enjoyable.”

Dell XPS 13

Above: Dell XPS 13 is available now in multiple colors.

Image Credit: Dell

The new thin-and-light Dell XPS 13 has a new video experience and a frost color option.

The device has a 2.25-millimeter HD webcam, the smallest one yet. The laptop has a 13-inch Infinity Edge display, and it’s the first Dell laptop to support Dolby Vision, which provides more vivid picture quality on details like brightness, contrast, and color. Highlights are up to 40 times brighter and blacks are 10 times darker. It features new quad-core 8th Gen Intel Core processors.

It has an arctic white woven glass fiber interior and a new frost anodized exterior color option. The starting price is $900. The UHD touchscreen is available now in silver/black and rose gold/white. It will be available in other colors later.

Inspiron 13 and 15 7000 2-in-1

Above: Dell Inspiron 7000 2-in-1

Image Credit: Dell

The new 13-inch and 15-inch Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 laptops feature 8th Gen Intel Core processors, an aluminum body, narrow borders, and diamond-cut finish on the click pad’s edge. It has a first-of-its-kind garage in the hinge, which provides for a full-size electronic pen to be stored easily. The keyboard integrates the power button and a fingerprint reader into a new power key that is part of the keyboard itself.

This allows for the addition of a number pad into the narrow border of the 15-inch model. The laptops also have Adaptive Thermal technology, enabling the system to adjust its performance profile based on how a customer is holding it. The device changes power profiles to generate less heat when watching movies on a lap, and it ramps to full power for productivity on a desk.

The Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 and the 15 are available in June or July, with pricing to be decided.

Dell Mobile Connect

Above: Dell Mobile Connect in VR.

Image Credit: Dell

This app enables PC users to stay connected on mobile and PC at the same time, bringing mobile features into the PC via notifications and calling capabilities. You can, for instance, check your phone’s text messages on your PC. Dell said that more than 25 million phone calls and text messages have been made using Dell Mobile Connect since it was introduced in January 2018.

This winter, an update will allow users to wireless drag and drop files between their PC and Android phone. You can quickly and securely transfer photos, videos, music, and documents without using a cloud storage service or cables.

Dell will also make it possible to integrate all of your phone’s notifications while in virtual reality. The demo — which isn’t a product yet — lets you answer phone calls, get and respond to text messages, receive third-party app notifications, and interact with apps inside a VR experience.

Dell Cinema

Above: Dell Cinema updates

Image Credit: Dell

Dell Cinema has been updated with CinemaColor, CinemaSound, and CinemaStream features. That means you will get deeper colors, Dolby Vision Volume sound for enhanced bass and dialogue, auto-adjust equalization, and audio enhancement for 360-degree audio on your headphones.

The CinemaStream 2.0 feature enhances video streaming with 10 times less buffering (delays for loading video) and six times improvement in video quality.